3:58 AM, June 12, 2013

Lions general manager Martin Mayhew / Associated Press

By Anthony Kuehn

Detroit Free Press Special Writer

Anthony Kuehn is the editor of the Detroit Lions blog Lions Gab . His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. Get in touch with Anthony at lionsgab@gmail.com or on Twitter @lionsgab.

Parity has made the NFL the most volatile of the major sports leagues when it comes to sustained success. There is so much competitive balance that a Super Bowl contender one year is just as likely to be picking in the top 10 the next year. As a result, every fan base has optimism in the offseason. This is what helps drive the popularity of the NFL, but it also erodes the patience that a fan base has in other sports.

Martin Mayhew has presided over five drafts, which may seem like a lot to some fans but actually is about the right time to rebuild the mess he inherited. Mayhew’s first draft focused on finding building blocks. The second draft was a combination of finding more long-term building blocks, using some late-round picks in trades for starters and rolling the dice on a couple players with injury issues but huge upside. The third draft was the riskiest, mostly because of the need to find as many starters as possible because of the uncertainty involving the lockout. The fourth draft was geared more towards building depth and finding developmental players rather than trying to find immediate starters. This year’s draft was a blend of developmental players and potential starters.

With that said, there are 12 players drafted by Mayhew that could define this team’s fortunes in 2013. I recently did an analysis of Matthew Stafford, and he is the biggest piece. Since I addressed him two weeks ago, I left him off this list. The list is in the order they were drafted.

Brandon Pettigrew: No player has a bigger role in getting Stafford comfortable in the passing game than Pettigrew. He has been both an outlet for Stafford as well as a focal point of attacking the middle of the field when coverage is heavily focused on Calvin Johnson. In 2011, Stafford got off to a couple of slow starts and defenses were taking away the deep passing game. The offense started rolling when Stafford and Pettigrew picked apart the middle of the field. The Week 3 comeback against Minnesota, Week 4 comeback against Dallas and the Week 5 win against the Bears were great examples of this. He also took a lot of pressure off Johnson in the red zone.

However, Pettigrew wasn’t as reliable a target in 2012. If the Lions are going to rebound from last year, Pettigrew needs to regain his 2011 form.

Louis Delmas: He is the heart and soul of the defense and there is a noticeable difference when he is on the field. His health has been an issue for him and the defense will benefit greatly if he can put those injury issues behind him.

Delmas gives the defense a boost because of his versatility and infectious enthusiasm. He can cover man-to-man and also is able to cover a ton of ground in zone. He is a reasonably good tackler and has flashed elite playmaking ability at times. The Lions not only signed Glover Quin to be Delmas’ partner, but his insurance policy, too. Quin has a lot of the same physical ability as Delmas and with both of them healthy, the Lions have one of the most athletic safety tandems in the league.

DeAndre Levy: This offseason the Lions had to chose between Levy and Justin Durant and they went with the younger guy. They also went with the more inconsistent of the two. Levy has displayed a knack for big plays at times and then he also has disappeared at times. The Lions went long stretches between big plays from their linebackers last year and they are looking for Levy to change that this season.

If Levy can maximize his potential, the Lions have two solid starting linebackers and one question mark at the other spot. If Levy is inconsistent or has injury issues, the Lions will be in a tough spot on the second level of their defense.

Jason Fox: Jahvid Best was one of the high upside/injury risk draftees from 2010 and Fox was the other. He was projected as a second round tackle until injuries caused him to slide to the fourth round. Fox needed to bulk up, get healthy and learn the system, which he has done the last couple of seasons. He is the favorite to replace Gosder Cherilus at right tackle and he can be a more balanced player.

Fox could also be the weak link on the line and either lose the job to Corey Hilliard. Fox is the more talented player, so his performance will go a long way towards improving the line from last year or taking a big step back.

Willie Young: Young looked like he was on the verge of a breakout year after a stellar 2012 preseason, but like the rest of the team he underperformed. Young is an undersized defensive end, but plays much bigger than his frame. He is explosive and gives great effort and can be a very big part of the rotation at defensive end.

Young hasn’t really had high expectations placed on him so far in his career, but he does this year. As crazy as it seems, Young is now the elder statesman of the defensive ends. He isn’t expected to start, but he is expected to contribute more than last season. If Young can be a six--ack guy off the bench, it would take pressure off some of the new, younger guys.

Nick Fairley: When healthy, Fairley has flashed Pro Bowl ability and he and Ndamukong Suh can be the most disruptive pair of tackles in the league. With so much youth and new blood at defensive end, the onus is on the defensive tackles to cause disruption for the defense.

Fairley’s rocky start to his career seems to be past him. Not only is Fairley’s performance important for the Lions’ chances of success in 2013, but it will go a long way towards establishing what type of player he can be in the future. There are already rumblings that the Lions won’t be able to afford Stafford, Johnson and Suh. The Lions need to know what they have in Fairley so they can figure out if they can survive without Suh.

Mikel Leshoure: There has been a lot of attention on Reggie Bush and what he will bring to the offense, but that doesn’t mean Leshoure will be riding pine all season. The goal for the Best/Leshoure backfield was a split somewhere in the 60-40 range. Bush will be the primary ball carrier, but the Lions will likely count on Leshoure as a change-of-pace, short-yardage and goal line back.

With Bush’s receiving ability, the Lions may also put both in the backfield together and have the flexibility to split Bush out wide and pound it inside with Leshoure. The Lions will also go to Leshoure to pound the ball between the tackles to kill clock in the 4-minute offense, something that cost the Lions a couple wins last season. Don’t overlook the fact that Bush has had durability issues of his own in his career. So Leshoure could end up being the main ball carrier at some point.

Leshoure is now two years removed from his Achilles tear, which sapped him of his explosive burst last season. He may never get all the way back to 100%, but he’s going to be a lot closer in 2013 than he was last season.

Riley Reiff: People seem a little down on Reiff as a left tackle just because there was so much talk of the Lions taking a tackle in the first round of April's draft. The Lions felt that Reiff could be a good right guard and they could afford to move him there if they landed a top tier left tackle. Just because they were considering Reiff at a different position doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of playing left tackle.

Reiff was drafted as the left tackle of the future and the Lions still believe in him there. He may never be a Pro Bowler there, but being another Jeff Backus will be more than sufficient. If Reiff can’t cut it at left tackle, there is obviously a lot of downside to Stafford not having a capable blind side protector. So Reiff’s performance is as important to the offense as Fairley’s is to the defense.

Ronnell Lewis: The only thing of note Lewis has accomplished as a Lion was getting arrested. However, Lewis is expected to be in the rotation at defensive end after spending his rookie year making the transition from linebacker to defensive end.

More importantly, Lewis was drafted because he was a special-teams demon in college. The Lions are looking at a significant turnover at the top of their special teams group and Lewis will need to fill the void. Kaseem Osgood is gone, John Wendling is too big a liability as a backup safety, so he may be a luxury the Lions can’t afford and Ashlee Palmer is first in line to take over for Justin Durant.

The Lions need somebody to take the mantel of special teams ace and it will likely be Lewis. If he’s not as capable as the Lions need him to be, they may have to use a valuable roster spot on a pure special teamer which would be a big disappointment.

Tahir Whitehead: Whitehead cracks the list specifically because the Lions traded up to draft him. Palmer is the favorite to start at outside linebacker, the Lions have to be pulling for Whitehead to justify the investment they made in him.

If Whitehead can’t land the starting job, he'd better be capable of dominating on special teams while he learns the finer points of linebacker. Whitehead was another player that was drafted as a project, since he was a pass rushing 3-4 outside linebacker transitioning into a 4-3 outside linebacker. At the very least he needs to be a special teams ace and a versatile backup this season.

Ziggy Ansah: Ansah is in the unenviable position of being a developmental player expected to contribute right away. He has the intelligence and work ethic to grasp the mental aspects of the game. It’s an entirely different animal applying that knowledge on the field against NFL competition. Just imagine trying to play chess in your head while running through an obstacle course.

If Ansah can be a six-to-seven-sack guy that plays the run well and can bat some passes down, that will be a great rookie year. If he can use his freakish athleticism to be disruptive without getting the stats, that would be a huge success. In fact, Ansah wreaking havoc on the outside and forcing quarterbacks to step into Fairley and Suh may be the preferable outcome of his rookie season. If Fairley and Suh are blowing up the middle, just about anybody can come in and clean up the quarterback. So stats may not be the best way to measure if Ziggy truly is the Ansah (see what I did there?) in his rookie year.

Darius Slay: It was tough to decide between Slay or Larry Warford for the final spot, but I went with Slay because the Lions recently added some veteran depth on the interior of the offensive line. The Lions don’t have the same fall back plan if Slay doesn’t perform at a high level.

Bill Bentley is better suited as a slot corner, Jonte Green and Chris Greenwood still have a lot of development ahead of them, leaving Ron Bartell as the only experienced fallback plan at cornerback. Bentley is undersized and inexperienced while Green and Greenwood have the size, but still lack experience. Slay has size and a decent amount of experience playing against a high level of competition in the SEC. Chris Houston is the Lions’ top corner, but he is a little smaller than ideal and with Brandon Marshall, James Jones, Jordy Nelson, Larry Fitzgerald, AJ Green and Dez Bryant on the docket, the Lions could use some size.

The best measurable for Slay’s 2013 season will be pretty simple: games started. If Slay wins the starting job and stays healthy and productive enough to start all season, that will be a successful 2013. If he can’t win the job or has injury or performance issues, the Lions will have to rely on players that may not be completely prepared for that sizable of a role yet.

It’s very unlikely that all 12 of these players are going to have big seasons, and it’s not very easy to place a number on how many need to have big years for the Lions to be successful. One way or another, these players will have an opportunity in 2013.